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This is fast becoming my favorite plug-in. I do a lot of book covers for my thrillers so this works perfectly for the gritty look I like. My CIA logo above was done quickly and it's definitely not refined, but I see potential for similar designs.

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Hi Pixey - that's not 'Noise' - it is a problem though!It is caused because the plugin needs to know where an object ends... this should logically be at zero alpha, unfortunately, this is not always the case....anti-aliasing around close bits of text (or shapes) or previous use of effects such as 'median' can cause problems.

I lowered the alpha threshold (what the plugin thinks is where an object becomes clear space) in the latest version, from 16 to 5 ... should I ...

1. Move this back to 16?2. Advise people to adjust the image first using alpha-threshold or AAassistant (a bit haphazard)?3. Add an 'Alpha-threshold' slider?

I try not to make U.I.s too big or get people to keep updating but I think answer 3. is the best solution!

Thanks for reporting this (I had noticed a problem too but hoped it would go away if no-one else noticed ) - much easier to sort it out now before updating the pack . In the meantime run AAassistant a few times on the base object.Will update soon.

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I think the alpha-threshold control is the best solution. (Of course, I'm not exactly known for the conciseness of my own user interfaces.)

I hope you don't mind me asking (and thus seeming to push my own pet ideas), but is it possible to use the fast distance transform I discussed in Plugin Developer's Central for Object Bevel? I don't know the exact algorithm used by Object Bevel, but I assume it basically determines the distances to the nearest object edges, transforms them to obtain the bevel profile, then applies the lighting. The fast distance transform can do the distance transformation so quickly that there would be very little delay even with very large images.

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Update:I have added an alpha threshold control to deal with the problem of edges not being detected correctly (which looks like noise).Keep the slider as low as possible to avoid losing the object's smooth outline.Examples below:http://i.imgur.com/GGtt1WJ.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/408Z0lK.pngHopefully the U.I. is not too large, it is resizeable if you have less resolution.Update on page one of this thread, plugin pack V9, still not updated!

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Thanks for the "Alpha Threshold", it helps smooth things out. AA's also helps on occasion. And much thanks for making it still compatible with PDN v3.5.11 as that is what I mostly use these days with Linux....

'Anti-aliasing' normally means the semi-transparent pixels around an object used to give the impression that edges are smoothly curved or angled. Pixels are in a grid so without it edges can appear 'jaggy'.eg. AAassistant.

It can also refer to sub pixel sampling, commonly used when resizing. So instead of just processing each pixel you processes points 'inbetween' the pixels and average out the results.eg. latest Pdn4 version of Clip-Displace.

Object Bevel retains the transparency of the object's edge anti-aliased pixels above the alpha threshold. It destroys the anti-aliasing below this threshold as it looks terrible if they are left, unaltered.If you want to see that effect, simply duplicate the original object and only run Object Bevel on the top layer then merge down.It would be a logical nightmare to have pixels considered both on the object and not on the object at the same time. The Boolean 'maybe'!

Also, I have used the edge anti-aliasing values to affect the inner edge of the shading on the shading types with a hard inner edge only. (Flat, concave etc.).I have not done this for the convex shapes as it is unnoticeable ... the amount of shading is approaching zero anyway.

I hope that sheds some light on what the effect is doing and hopefully makes sense. If I have misunderstood what you meant, please elaborate.

EDIT:

Ah - did you mean the anti-alias checkbox on the original Bevel Object version?

If so, that referred to the smoothing on the inside edge of flat and concave shapes... it's still there, I just removed the option to not have it (to save U.I. space).

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I've been reprimanded a few too many times, so I won't be posting much around here. I know I'm a hot head, but that's my nature...

Anyway, I've joined the Linux Mint forum (lot's of smart cookies there) and made a Linux desktop background image using this excellent plugin. Object Bevel and Gears are some of my favorite PDN plugins. TR and BoltBait have some real nice ones also. If it weren't for the hard work that people like you put into these great plugin's, I would've given up on PDN long ago.

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I'm glad you're finding Gears and Object Bevel useful and thank you for taking the time to give positive feedback.
It is very appreciated!

It's easy to misunderstand people on the forum and reply in a way we shouldn't. I've done it myself!
I hope you do stick around here. I enjoy your wildlife photos and animations
... and may need advice on Linux sometime too!

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Thank you for your Align plugin. I didn't see the need for a plugin like this but since you (& MJW) created it, I have found it very useful. Well done & thank you!😎

May I ask you, please, to remove the direct download of my plugin pack from the Object Bevel thread.
I note that my pack currently has 22,900 downloads and yet another 9,000 in your downloaded then re-uploaded version on the Bevel object thread.
I'm sure you were only trying to help but a simple link to my plugin pack download page would have sufficed.
Please consider how you would feel if I included your (excellent) plugins in my plugin pack? (I won't).

Reasons:
1.If I ever decide to update my plugin pack there will be an old version hanging around on the forum.
2.The download numbers for my pack are false.
3.I know you are trust-worthy but as a precedent there is ample opportunity to insert malware into my plugin pack and distribute it with my name on it. Obviously I don't want that.
4.You will free up your own Pdn upload space.

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While you're here, I was hoping you wouldn't mind if I released my modified version of EdgeShader, the version I called "EdgeShaderMJW." It would be released under the name "Edge Shader," under both our names. You'd get first billing, of course.

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Thanks E.E.R. for making Xod's post clearer.😎
I did not know it was possible to link directly to that download without access to the forum HTML (id attribute?).

M.J.W. - Feel free to release your version of 'edge shader' with the super-quick code.
(The original idea would have been to detect the distance to the nearest edge AND the distance to an edge in the opposite direction. The idea being that this would automatically set the 'distance' between edges for the shading. That's just too complicated!... and cannot use your much quicker code.)

May I suggest, if possible:

1. A choice of what an 'edge' is. Object edges are currently used in your beta (very useful for text) but an edge detect algorithm using abrupt tone or even hue changes can be useful too. I have an unpublished version using my slow code that does this.

2. A threshold slider for what is and isn't an edge then becomes very useful. For objects this is just alpha. If using Tone Gradient Magnitude (T.G.M.) to detect edges the threshold would exclude less defined edges.

3. It is useful to have a 'show edges' mode to show which pixels will be treated as an edge before rendering the effect. Simply red for edges, black for not. I've used this idea in my unpublished version of edgeshader and in my 'Gossamer' effect.

4. Primary/Secondary colours at 100% effect blend should be the default but it might be useful to include an option to output a height map which could subsequently be manipulated with your Texture smoother effect?

Only suggestions! and thanks again for your help with 'Aardvark' - I find I use it a lot.

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Those are some very good suggestions, Red ochre, but I think I'll first release the more or less the original version (but with the default blending changed to 100%). Otherwise, I'll do what I typically do: delay and delay, looking for perfection, and never getting anything published.

Unfortunately, there's no way for the fast edge-finding algorithm to also find the opposite edge, useful as that would be. I have a concept for something similar, but it's one of those things that may work great, tolerably, or not at all. I'll need to try it to see.